The sweetest, silliest, and most surprising pet names in English

If you're looking for a new way to show the people in your life that you love them and that you love learning English, try using an English pet name! Whether it's an old classic or something with a modern twist, maybe English is the love language you've been looking for.

The most common pet names in English

Here are some of the most common pet names in English. You'll see that many of the most classic pet names in English are based on words for sweet and sugary things!

These names can be used with people of any gender—for example, honey works equally well for a boyfriend, a girlfriend, or a partner of any gender. 

Honey, sweetheart, sweetie, and dear are also words of affection you might hear from strangers who are older than you, for example, if an older person in the grocery stores needs help. These 4 pet names are also commonly used for children… but baby and babe are used less so, oddly enough! 

Creative pet names in English

Besides the classic English pet names, there are also many more creative (and surprising!) pet names you can use with your special sweetheart. These can also be used for any gender!

Warning: Many of these creative pet names are unbearably cutesy… and you might get some eye rolls if you use them!

The newest pet names in English

If you're uncomfortable calling the person you love most in the world an insect you want to snuggle with, you might prefer some of these more modern pet names:

Bae (or bay) and bb are new-ish shortened forms of the pet name baby, and they are the quickest ways to text your sweetie pie. 

There are lots of stories about how bae got started—it likely started as a short form of the very popular pet name baby, but you'll also see people say it stands for before anyone else. 

Bae got its start in African American English, as did boo, and they're now used by English speakers from many countries and ethnicities.

Other words new to the pet name scene are bubba, bubs, mother (yes, surprisingly!), and papi, borrowed from Spanish through Latin American influence in the U.S.

There are some newer gendered pet names, too, including wifey (a diminutive of wife) and hubby (a diminutive of husband).

And there's lots more where those have come from—for example, have you learned pookie (a meaningless, but very cute, diminutive) from TikTok?

Show your love through language!

Keep the spark of your relationship alive by sharing your love of languages with your cuddle bug, pookie, or good, old-fashioned darling: Use a new English pet name!